Air Traffic Controller

Sorry if this question has been asked before, but does your store have an Air Traffic Controller for the back room? Upon my interview when I first started, I explained that working here was a filler job while I waited to finish my degree and move on to my career. They were fine with it. I’ve been here for about 7 months. Since then, my team leads are practically non existent until they come in to micromanage and set things back for a few minutes then leave again. They told us that they technically aren’t allowed to stay in the back room as they are extremely busy doing other things in the store. However, whenever I need to go to the break area, I see them chatting in the office not doing anything. I don’t really care about this tbh. There’s different types of leadership, I guess.

My main thing is that lately they’ve assigned me as Air Traffic Controller. Essentially, I have to keep the back room in order for the duration of my shift while doing my job and ensuring picks are on time. There’s no increase in pay or anything. The first time I saw my name on the board for this, I didn’t know what it was. There was no team lead or coach to ask, so I just went about my day normally. Unfortunately, it was Saturday on Memorial Day weekend so it was absolutely insane. We had about fifty 8 a.m. delivery orders and even more 9 a.m. deliveries. People were picking up orders every second and the phone was going off non stop. I was assigned the phone and quality checks as well. People would ask me to go on break and my thought about that was: I’m 21. I’m not going to tell a 60 year old that he can’t take a bathroom break.

When it finally slowed down, the entire back room and I laughed and joked to each other like normal while we picked up the mess in the back room. Everyone was sweating and tired. (It was 100° out). Our team leads and coach walked in and we had a meeting where they called me out in front of everyone about how awful I handled everything and how I missed a single quality check on a delivery order that would set their percentages back. I asked them what ATC entails, and they basically, to me, described their job. I asked about a pay increase and was told it’s an opportunity to spot potential team leads for the future. I explained, again, that I’m not looking for a promotion because I won’t be here much longer. I respectfully asked not to be assigned this job anymore.

Much to my surprise (sarcasm), I am constantly assigned that position. My main question is, would I be in the wrong for refusing to do what I believe is a management position for my pay rate? This is what they get paid to do, correct? Can someone explain this to me?